Techniques for group-based spatial stream assignment signaling in 60 ghz wireless networks

ABSTRACT

Techniques for group-based spatial stream assignment signaling in 60 GHz wireless networks are described. According to various such techniques, a 60 GHz-capable transmitting device may be configured to define one or more DL MU-MIMO groups, each of which may comprise one or more respective 60 GHz-capable receiving devices. In various embodiments, the 60 GHz-capable transmitting device may include a DL MU-MIMO group ID within DL MU-MIMO control information in a PHY header of a PPDU in order to indicate that the PPDU is directed to a DL MU-MIMO group corresponding to that DL MU-MIMO group ID. In some embodiments, DL MU-MIMO control information may comprise information specifying spatial stream assignments for the 60 GHz-capable receiving devices of that DL MU-MIMO group. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, claims the benefit of, andpriority to previously filed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/457,653filed Mar. 13, 2017 entitled “TECHNIQUES FOR GROUP-BASED SPATIAL STREAMASSIGNMENT SIGNALING IN 60 GHZ WIRELESS NETWORKS”, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/672,121 filed Mar.28, 2015, which claims the benefit of and priority to previously filedU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/101,923, filed Jan. 9, 2015;all of which are incorporated by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments described herein generally relate to wireless communicationsbetween devices in wireless networks.

BACKGROUND

The 60 GHz wireless communication frequency band offers substantialpromise for use in accommodating the ever-growing data-rate demands ofwireless communications devices and their users. The 60 GHz bandcontains a large amount of available bandwidth, and the physicalproperties of signals with frequencies in the 60 GHz band may supportthe application of robust beamforming and/or spatial multiplexingtechniques and enable significant data rate improvements relative to thedata rates achieved via lower frequency bands. In order to leverage suchbeneficial characteristics in a wireless network that uses the 60 GHzband, it may be desirable to configure wireless devices with downlink(DL) multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) capabilities.Configuring a wireless device with DL MU-MIMO capabilities may generallyenable that device to make more efficient use of wireless channelresources by simultaneously/concurrently transmitting data to multipleother devices. However, according to conventional techniques for 60 GHzband communications, the use of DL MU-MIMO is not possible. For example,the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11ad-2012 standard defines a physical layer (PHY) header that isneither capable of addressing a physical layer convergence procedure(PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) to multiple stations (STAs) nor capableof specifying assignments of different spatial streams to different suchSTAs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a first operating environment.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a second operating environment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of an information element.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a first header structure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a second header structure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a first logic flow.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a second logic flow.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of a storage medium.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of a device.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Disclosed herein are techniques for group-based spatial streamassignment signaling in 60 GHz wireless networks. According to varioussuch techniques, a 60 GHz-capable transmitting device may be configuredto define one or more DL MU-MIMO groups, each of which may comprise oneor more respective 60 GHz-capable receiving devices. In variousembodiments, the 60 GHz-capable transmitting device may include DLMU-MIMO group management information in one or more management frames inorder to notify the various 60 GHz-capable receiving devices of thevarious respective DL MU-MIMO groups to which they belong. In someembodiments, the DL MU-MIMO group management information may specify adefined DL MU-MIMO group identifier (ID) for each DL MU-MIMO group. Invarious embodiments, the 60 GHz-capable transmitting device may use thedefined DL MU-MIMO group IDs to specify DL MU-MIMO groups for whichtransmitted PPDUs are intended. In some embodiments, the 60 GHz-capabletransmitting device may include a given DL MU-MIMO group ID within DLMU-MIMO control information in a PHY header of a PPDU in order toindicate that the PPDU is directed to the DL MU-MIMO group correspondingto that DL MU-MIMO group ID. In various embodiments, DL MU-MIMO controlinformation may comprise information specifying spatial streamassignments for the 60 GHz-capable receiving devices of that DL MU-MIMOgroup. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Various embodiments may comprise one or more elements. An element maycomprise any structure arranged to perform certain operations. Eachelement may be implemented as hardware, software, or any combinationthereof, as desired for a given set of design parameters or performanceconstraints. Although an embodiment may be described with a limitednumber of elements in a certain topology by way of example, theembodiment may include more or less elements in alternate topologies asdesired for a given implementation. It is worthy to note that anyreference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearances ofthe phrases “in one embodiment,” “in some embodiments,” and “in variousembodiments” in various places in the specification are not necessarilyall referring to the same embodiment.

Various embodiments herein are generally directed to wirelesscommunications systems. Some embodiments are particularly directed towireless communications over 60 GHz frequencies. Various suchembodiments may involve wireless communications performed according toone or more standards for 60 GHz wireless communications. For example,some embodiments may involve wireless communications performed accordingto one or more Wireless Gigabit Alliance (“WiGig”)/Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ad standards, such asIEEE 802.11ad-2012, including their predecessors, revisions, progeny,and/or variants. Various embodiments may involve wireless communicationsperformed according to one or more “next-generation” 60 GHz (“NG60”)wireless local area network (WLAN) communications standards. Someembodiments may involve wireless communications performed according toone or more millimeter-wave (mmWave) wireless communication standards.It is worthy of note that the term “60 GHz,” as it is employed inreference to various wireless communications devices, wirelesscommunications frequencies, and wireless communications standardsherein, is not intended to specifically denote a frequency of exactly 60GHz, but rather is intended to generally refer to frequencies in, ornear, the 57 GHz to 64 GHz frequency band. The embodiments are notlimited in this context.

Various embodiments may additionally or alternatively involve wirelesscommunications according to one or more other wireless communicationstandards. Some embodiments may involve wireless communicationsperformed according to one or more broadband wireless communicationstandards. For example, various embodiments may involve wirelesscommunications performed according to one or more 3rd GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or 3GPPLTE-Advanced (LTE-A) technologies and/or standards, including theirpredecessors, revisions, progeny, and/or variants. Additional examplesof broadband wireless communication technologies/standards that may beutilized in some embodiments may include—without limitation—GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications (GSM)/Enhanced Data Rates for GSMEvolution (EDGE), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)/HighSpeed Packet Access (HSPA), and/or GSM with General Packet Radio Service(GPRS) system (GSM/GPRS), IEEE 802.16 wireless broadband standards suchas IEEE 802.16m and/or IEEE 802.16p, International MobileTelecommunications Advanced (IMT-ADV), Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX) and/or WiMAX II, Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA) 2000 (e.g., CDMA2000 1×RTT, CDMA2000 EV-DO, CDMA EV-DV, and soforth), High Performance Radio Metropolitan Area Network (HIPERMAN),Wireless Broadband (WiBro), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA),High Speed Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) PacketAccess (HSOPA), High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) technologiesand/or standards, including their predecessors, revisions, progeny,and/or variants.

Further examples of wireless communications technologies and/orstandards that may be used in various embodiments may include—withoutlimitation—other IEEE wireless communication standards such as the IEEE802.11, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE802.11u, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11af, and/or IEEE 802.11ah standards,High-Efficiency Wi-Fi standards developed by the IEEE 802.11 HighEfficiency WLAN (HEW) Study Group, Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) wirelesscommunication standards such as Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi DirectServices, WiGig Display Extension (WDE), WiGig Bus Extension (WBE),WiGig Serial Extension (WSE) standards and/or standards developed by theWFA Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN) Task Group, machine-typecommunications (MTC) standards such as those embodied in 3GPP TechnicalReport (TR) 23.887, 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 22.368, and/or3GPP TS 23.682, and/or near-field communication (NFC) standards such asstandards developed by the NFC Forum, including any predecessors,revisions, progeny, and/or variants of any of the above. The embodimentsare not limited to these examples.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an operating environment 100 such asmay be representative of various embodiments. In operating environment100, a 60 GHz-capable device 102 has respective data to transmit to eachof a plurality of 60 GHz-capable devices comprising a 60 GHz-capabledevice 104, a 60 GHz-capable device 106, and a 60 GHz-capable device108. More particularly, 60 GHz-capable device 102 has data 110 totransmit to 60 GHz-capable device 104, has data 112 to transmit to 60GHz-capable device 106, and has data 114 to transmit to 60 GHz-capabledevice 108. In some embodiments, 60 GHz-capable devices 102, 104, 106,and 108 may comprise wireless communication devices in a wirelessnetwork that utilizes wireless channel frequencies of the 60 GHz band.In various embodiments, for example, 60 GHz-capable devices 102, 104,106, and 108 may comprise wireless communication devices in a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN) that utilizes 60 GHz band wirelesscommunication frequencies. In some embodiments, 60 GHz-capable device102 may comprise a personal basic service set (PBSS) controlpoint/access point (PCP/AP). In various embodiments, 60 GHz-capabledevices 104, 106, and 108 may comprise 60 GHz-capable stations (STAs).The embodiments are not limited in this context.

In operating environment 100, in order to send data to any particularone of 60 GHz-capable devices 104, 106, and 108, 60 GHz-capable device102 encapsulates that data within one or more medium access control(MAC) protocol data units (MPDUs). In the example of FIG. 1, 60GHz-capable device 102 encapsulates data 110 within an MPDU 116,encapsulates data 112 within an MPDU 118, and encapsulates data 114within an MPDU 120. In order to send an MPDU to a given one of 60GHz-capable devices 104, 106, and 108, 60 GHz-capable device 102 needsto encapsulate that MPDU within a PPDU for transmission to that 60GHz-capable device. 60 GHz-capable device 102 may make more efficientuse of wireless channel resources if it can encapsulate MPDUs 116, 118,and 120 in a same PPDU for DL MU-MIMO transmission to 60 GHz-capabledevices 104, 106, and 108 using multiple spatial streams, rather thanbeing required to transmit a first PPDU comprising MPDU 116, transmit asecond PPDU comprising MPDU 118, and transmit a third PPDU comprisingMPDU 120. However, according to conventional techniques, 60 GHz-capabledevice 102 may have no way of addressing a given PPDU to more than onereceiving device or of notifying receiving devices of assigned spatialstreams, and thus may not be able to successfully convey data to 60GHz-capable devices 104, 106, and 108 via DL MU-MIMO data transmissions.

Disclosed herein are techniques for group-based spatial streamassignment signaling in 60 GHz wireless networks. According to varioussuch techniques, a 60 GHz-capable transmitting device such as 60GHz-capable device 102 may be configured to define one or more DLMU-MIMO groups, each of which may comprise one or more respective 60GHz-capable receiving devices such as 60 GHz-capable receiving devices104, 106, and 108. In some embodiments, the 60 GHz-capable transmittingdevice may include DL MU-MIMO group management information in one ormore management frames in order to notify the various 60 GHz-capablereceiving devices of the various respective DL MU-MIMO groups to whichthey belong. In various embodiments, the DL MU-MIMO group managementinformation may specify a defined DL MU-MIMO group identifier (ID) foreach DL MU-MIMO group. In some embodiments, the 60 GHz-capabletransmitting device may use the defined DL MU-MIMO group IDs to specifyDL MU-MIMO groups for which transmitted PPDUs are intended. In variousembodiments, the 60 GHz-capable transmitting device may include a givenDL MU-MIMO group ID within DL MU-MIMO control information in a PHYheader of a PPDU in order to indicate that the PPDU is directed to theDL MU-MIMO group corresponding to that DL MU-MIMO group ID. In someembodiments, DL MU-MIMO control information may comprise informationspecifying spatial stream assignments for the 60 GHz-capable receivingdevices of that DL MU-MIMO group. The embodiments are not limited inthis context.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of an operating environment 200 such asmay be representative of some embodiments that implement one or more ofthe disclosed techniques for group-based spatial stream assignmentsignaling in 60 GHz wireless networks. In operating environment 200, 60GHz-capable device 102 defines one or more DL MU-MIMO groups and thenincludes DL MU-MIMO group management information 224 in a managementframe 222 in order to notify the 60 GHz-capable receiving devices in theDL MU-MIMO groups of the particular DL MU-MIMO groups to which theybelong. Examples of management frame 222 in various embodiments mayinclude—without limitation—a beacon frame, a probe response frame, anannouncement traffic indication message (ATIM) frame, an associationresponse frame, a reassociation response frame, an authentication frame,and an action frame. In some embodiments, DL MU-MIMO group managementinformation 224 may be comprised in a DL MU-MIMO group managementinformation element (IE) contained in management frame 222. In variousembodiments, DL MU-MIMO group management information 224 may specify arespective DL MU-MIMO group ID for each of the one or more defined DLMU-MIMO groups. In some embodiments, DL MU-MIMO group managementinformation 224 may identify the respective 60 GHz-capable receivingdevice(s) comprised in each such DL MU-MIMO group.

In various embodiments, a given 60 GHz-capable receiving device thatreceives management frame 222 may access DL MU-MIMO group managementinformation 224 to determine a DL MU-MIMO group ID for a DL MU-MIMOgroup to which it belongs. In some embodiments, that 60 GHz-capablereceiving device may then determine whether it is an addressee of asubsequently-transmitted PPDU 226 based on that DL MU-MIMO group ID. Invarious embodiments, the PPDU 226 may comprise a PHY header 228 thatcontains DL MU-MIMO control information 230. In some embodiments, DLMU-MIMO control information 230 may comprise information specifyingspatial stream assignments for 60 GHz-capable receiving devicesbelonging to a DL MU-MIMO group to which PPDU 226 is addressed. Invarious embodiments, DL MU-MIMO control information 230 may contain a DLMU-MIMO group ID 232 that identifies the DL MU-MIMO group to which PPDU226 is addressed. In some embodiments, the 60 GHz-capable receivingdevice may determine that it is an addressee of PPDU 226 if its DLMU-MIMO group ID matches DL MU-MIMO group ID 232. In variousembodiments, in response to a determination that it is an addressee ofPPDU 226, the 60 GHz-capable receiving device may use DL MU-MIMO controlinformation 230 to identify one or more spatial streams via which it isto receive data from 60 GHz-capable device 102. The embodiments are notlimited in this context.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an information element (IE) 300 such asmay be representative of DL MU-MIMO group management information 224 ofFIG. 2 in some embodiments. For the purpose of explanation, examplenames are depicted for the various fields in IE 300. However, it is tobe appreciated that the depicted names are exemplary only, and that theembodiments are not limited to the depicted examples. In variousembodiments, IE 300 may comprise an Element ID field 302. In someembodiments, Element ID field 302 may comprise a value indicating thatIE 300 comprises a DL MU-MIMO group management IE. In variousembodiments, Element ID field 302 may comprise a length of eight bits.In some embodiments, IE 300 may comprise a Length field 304. In variousembodiments, Length field 304 may comprise a value indicating a numberof octets contained in IE 300 following Length field 304. In someembodiments, Length field 304 may comprise a length of eight bits. Invarious embodiments, IE 300 may comprise a No. of DL MU-MIMO Groupsfield 306. In some embodiments, No. of DL MU-MIMO Groups field 306 maycomprise a value indicating a number of different DL MU-MIMO groups thatare described in IE 300. In various embodiments, No. of DL MU-MIMOGroups field 306 may comprise a length of six bits, corresponding to ascenario in which IE 300 can describe up to 64 different DL MU-MIMOgroups. In some other embodiments, No. of DL MU-MIMO Groups field 306may comprise a lesser or greater number of bits. The embodiments are notlimited in this context.

In various embodiments, IE 300 may comprise one or more MIMO groupinformation subsets 308-i. More particularly, for each possible integervalue of i from 0 to N, where the value comprised in No. of DL MU-MIMOGroups field 306 is equal to N+1, IE 300 may comprise a respective MIMOgroup information subset 308-i. In some embodiments, each MIMO groupinformation subset 308-i may comprise a respective DL MU-MIMO Group IDfield 310-i. In various embodiments, each DL MU-MIMO Group ID field310-i may comprise a DL MU-MIMO group ID for a DL MU-MIMO group that thecorresponding MIMO group information subset 308-i describes. In someembodiments, each DL MU-MIMO Group ID field 310-i may comprise a lengthequal to that of No. of DL MU-MIMO Groups field 306. For example, invarious embodiments in which No. of DL MU-MIMO Groups field 306comprises a length of six bits, each DL MU-MIMO Group ID field 310-i maycomprise a length of six bits. The embodiments are not limited to thisexample.

In some embodiments, each MIMO group information subset 308-i maycomprise a respective No. of STAs in Group field 312-i. In variousembodiments, each No. of STAs in Group field 312-i may contain a valueindicating a number of STAs comprised in the DL MU-MIMO group identifiedby the DL MU-MIMO group ID in the corresponding DL MU-MIMO Group IDfield 310-i. In some embodiments, the lengths of No. of STAs in Groupfields 312-i may be defined based on a maximum number of STAs that maybe contained in a given DL MU-MIMO group. In various embodiments, themaximum number of STAs that may be contained in a given DL MU-MIMO groupmay in turn be defined based on a maximum number MAX_NSS of spatialstreams that may be used for DL MU-MIMO transmissions. In someembodiments, MAX_NSS may be equal to 8, a given DL MU-MIMO group maythus be permitted to contain up to eight STAs, and each No. of STAs inGroup field 312-i may comprise a length of three bits. The embodimentsare not limited to this example.

In various embodiments, each MIMO group information subset 308-i maycomprise a respective Group AIDs field 314-i. In some embodiments, eachGroup AIDs field 314-i may comprise a respective AID for each STA in thecorresponding DL MU-MIMO group. In various embodiments, the length ofeach Group AIDs field 314-i may depend on the number of STAs in that DLMU-MIMO group. In some embodiments, each Group AIDs field 314-i maycomprise eight bits for each STA in the DL MU-MIMO group to which itcorresponds. In various embodiments, rather than being comprised withinrespective MIMO group information subsets 308-0 to 308-N, Group AIDsfields 314-0 to 314-N may follow MIMO group information subset 308-N, inconsecutive order relative to the respective MIMO group informationsubsets 308-i to which they correspond. The embodiments are not limitedin this context.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a header structure 400 such as may berepresentative of a header structure that may be used in someembodiments to implement techniques for group-based spatial streamassignment signaling in 60 GHz wireless networks. More particularly,header structure 400 may be representative of a structure of PHY header228 of FIG. 2 in various embodiments. In some embodiments, afterdetermining its DL MU-MIMO group ID based on a DL MU-MIMO groupmanagement IE such as IE 300 of FIG. 3, a 60 GHz-capable STA may useinformation in header structure 400 to determine whether it is anaddressee of a PPDU comprising header structure 400 and, if so, toidentify one or more spatial streams via which it is to receive datacomprised in the PPDU. In various embodiments, header structure 400 maycomprise a DL MU-MIMO Group ID subfield 416. In some embodiments, DLMU-MIMO Group ID subfield 416 may comprise a DL MU-MIMO group ID for aDL MU-MIMO group to which the PPDU is addressed. In various embodiments,DL MU-MIMO Group ID subfield 416 may comprise a length equal to thatdefined for No. of DL MU-MIMO Groups field 306 of FIG. 3. In someembodiments, DL MU-MIMO Group ID subfield 416 may comprise a length ofsix bits. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

In various embodiments, header structure 400 may comprise one or moreNSS subfields 418-j. More particularly, for each possible integer valueof j from 0 to P, where the DL MU-MIMO group identified by DL MU-MIMOGroup ID subfield 416 comprises P+1 STAs, header structure 400 maycomprise a respective NSS subfield 418-j. In some embodiments, each NSSsubfield 418-j may specify a number of spatial streams assigned to arespective STA among those in the DL MU-MIMO group. In variousembodiments, the order in which the various NSS subfields 418-j appearin header structure 400 may correspond to the order in which the AIDs oftheir associated STAs appear in a MIMO group information subset 308-ifor the DL MU-MIMO group within IE 300 of FIG. 3. In some embodiments,NSS subfields 418-j may be populated in accordance with a conventionthat the respective spatial streams assigned to each STA are to beconsecutive with respect to a reference order defined for such spatialstreams. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

As reflected in FIG. 4, in various embodiments, header structure 400 maycomprise one or more other subfields in addition to DL MU-MIMO Group IDsubfield 416 and NSS subfields 418-j. For example, in some embodiments,header structure 400 may comprise an HT-DMG PHY Sub-header Presentsubfield 420. In various embodiments, HT-DMG PHY Sub-header Presentsubfield 420 may comprise a length of one bit. In some embodiments,header structure 400 may comprise a Bandwidth subfield 422. In variousembodiments, Bandwidth subfield 422 may comprise a length of four bits.In some embodiments, header structure 400 may comprise a MIMO Modesubfield 424. In various embodiments, MIMO Mode subfield 424 maycomprise a length of one bit. In some embodiments, header structure 400may comprise a MIMO Training Fields Present subfield 426. In variousembodiments, MIMO Training Fields Present subfield 426 may comprise alength of one bit. The embodiments are not limited to these examples.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a header structure 500 such as may berepresentative of a header structure that may be used in variousembodiments to implement techniques for group-based spatial streamassignment signaling in 60 GHz wireless networks. As shown in FIG. 5,header structure 500 comprises many of the subfields discussed above inreference to header structure 400 of FIG. 4. However, instead of NSSsubfields 418-j, header structure 500 comprises Spatial Stream Bitmapsubfields 528-j. In some embodiments, each Spatial Stream Bitmapsubfield 528-j may comprise a bitmap specifying the particularrespective spatial stream(s) assigned to a respective STA among those inthe DL MU-MIMO group. In various embodiments, the order in which thevarious Spatial Stream Bitmap subfields 528-j appear in header structure500 may correspond to the order in which the AIDs of their associatedSTAs appear in a MIMO group information subset 308-i for the DL MU-MIMOgroup within IE 300 of FIG. 3. In various embodiments, the use ofSpatial Stream Bitmap subfields 528-j may enable a PCP/AP to assignnon-consecutive spatial streams to a same STA, rather than beingconstrained by a requirement that all of the spatial streams assigned toany given STA must be consecutive. In some embodiments, each SpatialStream Bitmap subfield 528-j may comprise a bit sequence of a lengthequal to MAX_NSS. In the example of FIG. 5, Spatial Stream Bitmapsubfields 528-j each comprise lengths of eight bits, reflecting ascenario in which MAX_NSS=8. In various embodiments, each bit in thesequence may correspond to a respective one of MAX_NSS spatial streamsthat are available to a transmitting PCP/AP. In some embodiments, thesecorrespondences may be defined according to a reference order for suchspatial streams. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a logic flow 600, which may berepresentative of operations that may be performed in variousembodiments in conjunction with the implementation of the disclosedtechniques for group-based spatial stream assignment signaling in 60 GHzwireless networks. For example, logic flow 600 may be representative ofoperations that may be performed in various embodiments by one or moreof 60 GHz-capable devices 104, 106, and 108. In some such embodiments,one or more of 60 GHz-capable devices 104, 106, and 108 may perform theoperations of logic flow 600 in conjunction with operating as STAs in a60-GHz band wireless network. As shown in FIG. 6, a management framethat comprises DL MU-MIMO group management information may be receivedat a STA at 602. For example, 60 GHz-capable device 104 may receivemanagement frame 222, which may comprise DL MU-MIMO group managementinformation 224. At 604, a group ID for a DL MU-MIMO group comprisingthe STA may be determined based on the DL MU-MIMO group managementinformation. For example, 60 GHz-capable device 104 may identify a MIMOgroup information subset 308-i that contains an AID associated with 60GHz-capable device 104 and identify a group ID for a DL MU-MIMO groupcomprising 60 GHz-capable device 104 as the group ID comprised in a DLMU-MIMO group ID subfield 310-i of the MIMO group information subset308-i.

At 606, it may be determined whether a PPDU is addressed to the DLMU-MIMO group comprising the STA. For example, 60 GHz-capable device 104may determine whether PPDU 226 is addressed to its DL MU-MIMO groupbased on whether a DL MU-MIMO group ID 232 in PHY header 228 matches thegroup ID identified at 604. If it is determined at 606 that the PPDU isnot addressed to the DL MU-MIMO group comprising the STA, the logic flowmay end. If it is determined at 606 that the PPDU is addressed to the DLMU-MIMO group comprising the STA, flow may pass to 608. At 608, one ormore spatial streams that are assigned to the STA may be identifiedbased on a PHY header of the PPDU. For example, 60 GHz-capable device104 may identify one or more spatial streams 234 that are assigned to 60GHz-capable device 104 based on PHY header 228. At 610, one or moreMPDUs may be received via the one or more spatial streams. For example,60 GHz-capable device 104 may receive one or more of MPDUs 116, 118, and120 via one or more spatial streams 234 identified at 608. Theembodiments are not limited to these examples.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a logic flow 700, which may berepresentative of operations that may be performed in some embodimentsin conjunction with the implementation of the disclosed techniques forgroup-based spatial stream assignment signaling in 60 GHz wirelessnetworks. For example, logic flow 700 may be representative ofoperations that may be performed in some embodiments by 60 GHz-capabledevice 102. In various such embodiments, 60 GHz-capable device 102 mayperform the operations of logic flow 700 in conjunction with operatingas a PCP/AP for a 60 GHz-band wireless network. As shown in FIG. 7, a DLMU-MIMO group may be defined at 702 and may comprise a plurality ofSTAs. For example, 60 GHz-capable device 102 define a DL MU-MIMO groupthat comprises 60 GHz-capable devices 104, 106, and 108. At 704, amanagement frame may be sent that identifies a group ID for the DLMU-MIMO group and a respective AID for each of the plurality of STAs.For example, 60 GHz-capable device 102 may send a management frame 222containing an IE 300 that comprises a MIMO group information subset308-i containing the group ID for the DL MU-MIMO group that comprises 60GHz-capable devices 104, 106, and 108 and the respective AIDs of 60GHz-capable devices 104, 106, and 108.

At 706, at least one respective MPDU for each of the plurality of STAsof the DL MU-MIMO group may be encapsulated in a PPDU. For example, 60GHz-capable device 102 may encapsulate an MPDU 116 for 60 GHz-capabledevice 104, an MPDU 118 for 60 GHz-capable device 106, and an MPDU 120for 60 GHz-capable device 108 in PPDU 226. At 708, the PPDU may beaddressed to the DL MU-MIMO group by including the group ID for the DLMU-MIMO group in a PHY header of the PPDU. For example, 60 GHz-capabledevice 102 may address PPDU 226 to a DL MU-MIMO group defined at 702 tocomprise 60 GHz-capable devices 104, 106, and 108 by including in PHYheader 228 a DL MI-MIMO group ID 232 that matches the group ID for theDL MU-MIMO group. At 710, the PPDU may be transmitted via a plurality ofspatial streams that includes at least one assigned spatial stream foreach STA in the DL MU-MIMO group. For example, 60 GHz-capable device 102may transmit PPDU 226 via a plurality of spatial streams 234, and theplurality of spatial streams 234 may include one or more spatial streams234 assigned to 60 GHz-capable device 104, one or more spatial streams234 assigned to 60 GHz-capable device 106, and one or more spatialstreams 234 assigned to 60 GHz-capable device 108. The embodiments arenot limited to these examples.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of a storage medium 800. Storage medium800 may comprise any non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ormachine-readable storage medium, such as an optical, magnetic orsemiconductor storage medium. In various embodiments, storage medium 800may comprise an article of manufacture. In some embodiments, storagemedium 800 may store computer-executable instructions, such ascomputer-executable instructions to implement logic flow 600 of FIG. 6and/or logic flow 700 of FIG. 7. Examples of a computer-readable storagemedium or machine-readable storage medium may include any tangible mediacapable of storing electronic data, including volatile memory ornon-volatile memory, removable or non-removable memory, erasable ornon-erasable memory, writeable or re-writeable memory, and so forth.Examples of computer-executable instructions may include any suitabletype of code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code,executable code, static code, dynamic code, object-oriented code, visualcode, and the like. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of a communications device 900 that mayimplement one or more of 60 GHz-capable devices 102, 104, 106, and 108of FIG. 1, logic flow 600 of FIG. 6, logic flow 700 of FIG. 7, andstorage medium 800 of FIG. 8. In some embodiments, communications device900 may be representative of a PCP/AP that transmits management framescontaining DL MU-MIMO group management IEs that comprise structurescorresponding to IE 300 of FIG. 3. In various embodiments,communications device 900 may be representative of a PCP/AP thattransmits PPDUs containing PHY headers that comprise a structurecorresponding to header structure 400 of FIG. 4 or header structure 500of FIG. 5. In various embodiments, communication device 900 may berepresentative of a 60 GHz-capable STA that determines a DL MU-MIMOgroup to which it belongs based on a DL MU-MIMO group management IE thatcomprises a structure corresponding to IE 300 of FIG. 3. In someembodiments, communication device 900 may be representative of a 60GHz-capable STA that receives MPDUs via PPDUs containing PHY headersthat comprise a structure corresponding to header structure 400 of FIG.4 or header structure 500 of FIG. 5. The embodiments are not limited inthis context.

In various embodiments, device 900 may comprise a logic circuit 928. Thelogic circuit 928 may include physical circuits to perform operationsdescribed for one or more of 60 GHz-capable devices 102, 104, 106, and108 of FIG. 1, logic flow 600 of FIG. 6, and logic flow 700 of FIG. 7,for example. As shown in FIG. 9, device 900 may include a radiointerface 910, baseband circuitry 920, and computing platform 930,although the embodiments are not limited to this configuration. In someembodiments, device 900 may implement some or all of the structureand/or operations for one or more of 60 GHz-capable devices 102, 104,106, and 108 of FIG. 1, logic flow 600 of FIG. 6, logic flow 700 of FIG.7, storage medium 800 of FIG. 8, and logic circuit 928 in a singlecomputing entity, such as entirely within a single device.Alternatively, the device 900 may distribute portions of the structureand/or operations for one or more of 60 GHz-capable devices 102, 104,106, and 108 of FIG. 1, logic flow 600 of FIG. 6, logic flow 700 of FIG.7, storage medium 800 of FIG. 8, and logic circuit 928 across multiplecomputing entities using a distributed system architecture, such as aclient-server architecture, a 3-tier architecture, an N-tierarchitecture, a tightly-coupled or clustered architecture, apeer-to-peer architecture, a master-slave architecture, a shareddatabase architecture, and other types of distributed systems. Theembodiments are not limited in this context.

In one embodiment, radio interface 910 may include a component orcombination of components adapted for transmitting and/or receivingsingle-carrier or multi-carrier modulated signals (e.g., includingcomplementary code keying (CCK), orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing (OFDM), and/or single-carrier frequency division multipleaccess (SC-FDMA) symbols) although the embodiments are not limited toany specific over-the-air interface or modulation scheme. Radiointerface 910 may include, for example, a receiver 912, a frequencysynthesizer 914, and/or a transmitter 916. Radio interface 910 mayinclude bias controls, a crystal oscillator and/or one or more antennas918-f. In another embodiment, radio interface 910 may use externalvoltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), surface acoustic wave filters,intermediate frequency (IF) filters and/or RF filters, as desired. Dueto the variety of potential RF interface designs an expansivedescription thereof is omitted.

Baseband circuitry 920 may communicate with radio interface 910 toprocess receive and/or transmit signals and may include, for example, ananalog-to-digital converter 922 for down converting received signals, adigital-to-analog converter 924 for up converting signals fortransmission. Further, baseband circuitry 920 may include a baseband orphysical layer (PHY) processing circuit 926 for PHY link layerprocessing of respective receive/transmit signals. Baseband circuitry920 may include, for example, a medium access control (MAC) processingcircuit 927 for MAC/data link layer processing. Baseband circuitry 920may include a memory controller 932 for communicating with MACprocessing circuit 927 and/or a computing platform 930, for example, viaone or more interfaces 934.

In some embodiments, PHY processing circuit 926 may include a frameconstruction and/or detection module, in combination with additionalcircuitry such as a buffer memory, to construct and/or deconstructcommunication frames. Alternatively or in addition, MAC processingcircuit 927 may share processing for certain of these functions orperform these processes independent of PHY processing circuit 926. Insome embodiments, MAC and PHY processing may be integrated into a singlecircuit.

The computing platform 930 may provide computing functionality for thedevice 900. As shown, the computing platform 930 may include aprocessing component 940. In addition to, or alternatively of, thebaseband circuitry 920, the device 900 may execute processing operationsor logic for one or more of 60 GHz-capable devices 102, 104, 106, and108 of FIG. 1, logic flow 600 of FIG. 6, logic flow 700 of FIG. 7,storage medium 800 of FIG. 8, and logic circuit 928 using the processingcomponent 940. The processing component 940 (and/or PHY 926 and/or MAC927) may comprise various hardware elements, software elements, or acombination of both. Examples of hardware elements may include devices,logic devices, components, processors, microprocessors, circuits,processor circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors,capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits, applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic devices (PLD),digital signal processors (DSP), field programmable gate array (FPGA),memory units, logic gates, registers, semiconductor device, chips,microchips, chip sets, and so forth. Examples of software elements mayinclude software components, programs, applications, computer programs,application programs, system programs, software development programs,machine programs, operating system software, middleware, firmware,software modules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures,software interfaces, application program interfaces (API), instructionsets, computing code, computer code, code segments, computer codesegments, words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof.Determining whether an embodiment is implemented using hardware elementsand/or software elements may vary in accordance with any number offactors, such as desired computational rate, power levels, heattolerances, processing cycle budget, input data rates, output datarates, memory resources, data bus speeds and other design or performanceconstraints, as desired for a given implementation.

The computing platform 930 may further include other platform components950. Other platform components 950 include common computing elements,such as one or more processors, multi-core processors, co-processors,memory units, chipsets, controllers, peripherals, interfaces,oscillators, timing devices, video cards, audio cards, multimediainput/output (I/O) components (e.g., digital displays), power supplies,and so forth. Examples of memory units may include without limitationvarious types of computer readable and machine readable storage media inthe form of one or more higher speed memory units, such as read-onlymemory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM),Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM(SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, polymermemory such as ferroelectric polymer memory, ovonic memory, phase changeor ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS)memory, magnetic or optical cards, an array of devices such as RedundantArray of Independent Disks (RAID) drives, solid state memory devices(e.g., USB memory, solid state drives (SSD) and any other type ofstorage media suitable for storing information.

Device 900 may be, for example, an ultra-mobile device, a mobile device,a fixed device, a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a mobile computing device, a smart phone, a telephone,a digital telephone, a cellular telephone, user equipment, eBookreaders, a handset, a one-way pager, a two-way pager, a messagingdevice, a computer, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a notebook computer, a netbook computer, a handheldcomputer, a tablet computer, a server, a server array or server farm, aweb server, a network server, an Internet server, a work station, amini-computer, a main frame computer, a supercomputer, a networkappliance, a web appliance, a distributed computing system,multiprocessor systems, processor-based systems, consumer electronics,programmable consumer electronics, game devices, display, television,digital television, set top box, wireless access point, base station,node B, subscriber station, mobile subscriber center, radio networkcontroller, router, hub, gateway, bridge, switch, machine, orcombination thereof. Accordingly, functions and/or specificconfigurations of device 900 described herein, may be included oromitted in various embodiments of device 900, as suitably desired.

Embodiments of device 900 may be implemented using single input singleoutput (SISO) architectures. However, certain implementations mayinclude multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 918-f) for transmission and/orreception using adaptive antenna techniques for beamforming or spatialdivision multiple access (SDMA) and/or using MIMO communicationtechniques.

The components and features of device 900 may be implemented using anycombination of discrete circuitry, application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), logic gates and/or single chip architectures. Further,the features of device 900 may be implemented using microcontrollers,programmable logic arrays and/or microprocessors or any combination ofthe foregoing where suitably appropriate. It is noted that hardware,firmware and/or software elements may be collectively or individuallyreferred to herein as “logic” or “circuit.”

It should be appreciated that the exemplary device 900 shown in theblock diagram of FIG. 9 may represent one functionally descriptiveexample of many potential implementations. Accordingly, division,omission or inclusion of block functions depicted in the accompanyingfigures does not infer that the hardware components, circuits, softwareand/or elements for implementing these functions would be necessarily bedivided, omitted, or included in embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a wireless network 1000. As shownin FIG. 10, wireless network comprises an access point 1002 and wirelessstations 1004, 1006, and 1008. In various embodiments, wireless network1000 may comprise a wireless local area network (WLAN), such as a WLANimplementing one or more Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (sometimes collectively referred to as“Wi-Fi”). In some other embodiments, wireless network 1000 may compriseanother type of wireless network, and/or may implement other wirelesscommunications standards. In various embodiments, for example, wirelessnetwork 1000 may comprise a WWAN or WPAN rather than a WLAN. Theembodiments are not limited to this example.

In various embodiments, wireless network 1000 may comprise a 60 GHzwireless network, and access point 1002 may communicate with one or moreof wireless stations 1004, 1006, and 1008 via one or more 60 GHz bandfrequency channels. In some embodiments, access point 1002 may berepresentative of a PCP/AP that transmits management frames containingDL MU-MIMO group management IEs that comprise structures correspondingto IE 300 of FIG. 3. In various embodiments, access point 1002 may berepresentative of a PCP/AP that transmits PPDUs containing PHY headersthat comprise a structure corresponding to header structure 400 of FIG.4 or header structure 500 of FIG. 5. In various embodiments, one or moreof wireless stations 1004, 1006, and 1008 may be representative of a 60GHz-capable STA that determines a DL MU-MIMO group to which it belongsbased on a DL MU-MIMO group management IE that comprises a structurecorresponding to IE 300 of FIG. 3. In some embodiments, one or more ofwireless stations 1004, 1006, and 1008 may be representative of a 60GHz-capable STA that receives MPDUs via PPDUs containing PHY headersthat comprise a structure corresponding to header structure 400 of FIG.4 or header structure 500 of FIG. 5. The embodiments are not limited inthis context.

In some embodiments, wireless network 1000 may implement one or morebroadband wireless communications standards, such as 3G or 4G standards,including their revisions, progeny, and variants. Examples of 3G or 4Gwireless standards may include without limitation any of the IEEE802.16m and 802.16p standards, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) standards, andInternational Mobile Telecommunications Advanced (IMT-ADV) standards,including their revisions, progeny and variants. Other suitable examplesmay include, without limitation, Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM)/Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technologies,Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)/High Speed PacketAccess (HSPA) technologies, Worldwide Interoperability for MicrowaveAccess (WiMAX) or the WiMAX II technologies, Code Division MultipleAccess (CDMA) 2000 system technologies (e.g., CDMA2000 1×RTT, CDMA2000EV-DO, CDMA EV-DV, and so forth), High Performance Radio MetropolitanArea Network (HIPERMAN) technologies as defined by the EuropeanTelecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Broadband Radio AccessNetworks (BRAN), Wireless Broadband (WiBro) technologies, GSM withGeneral Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system (GSM/GPRS) technologies, HighSpeed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technologies, High Speed OrthogonalFrequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Packet Access (HSOPA)technologies, High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) systemtechnologies, 3GPP Rel. 8-12 of LTE/System Architecture Evolution (SAE),and so forth. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

In various embodiments, wireless stations 1004, 1006, and 1008 maycommunicate with access point 1002 in order to obtain connectivity toone or more external data networks. In some embodiments, for example,wireless stations 1004, 1006, and 1008 may connect to the Internet 1012via access point 1002 and access network 1010. In various embodiments,access network 1010 may comprise a private network that providessubscription-based Internet-connectivity, such as an Internet ServiceProvider (ISP) network. The embodiments are not limited to this example.

In various embodiments, two or more of wireless stations 1004, 1006, and1008 may communicate with each other directly by exchanging peer-to-peercommunications. For example, in the example of FIG. 10, wirelessstations 1004 and 1006 communicate with each other directly byexchanging peer-to-peer communications 1014. In some embodiments, suchpeer-to-peer communications may be performed according to one or moreWi-Fi Alliance (WFA) standards. For example, in various embodiments,such peer-to-peer communications may be performed according to the WFAWi-Fi Direct standard, 2010 Release. In various embodiments, suchpeer-to-peer communications may additionally or alternatively beperformed using one or more interfaces, protocols, and/or standardsdeveloped by the WFA Wi-Fi Direct Services (WFDS) Task Group. Theembodiments are not limited to these examples.

Various embodiments may be implemented using hardware elements, softwareelements, or a combination of both. Examples of hardware elements mayinclude processors, microprocessors, circuits, circuit elements (e.g.,transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integratedcircuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmablelogic devices (PLD), digital signal processors (DSP), field programmablegate array (FPGA), logic gates, registers, semiconductor device, chips,microchips, chip sets, and so forth. Examples of software may includesoftware components, programs, applications, computer programs,application programs, system programs, machine programs, operatingsystem software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines,subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces,application program interfaces (API), instruction sets, computing code,computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words, values,symbols, or any combination thereof. Determining whether an embodimentis implemented using hardware elements and/or software elements may varyin accordance with any number of factors, such as desired computationalrate, power levels, heat tolerances, processing cycle budget, input datarates, output data rates, memory resources, data bus speeds and otherdesign or performance constraints.

One or more aspects of at least one embodiment may be implemented byrepresentative instructions stored on a machine-readable medium whichrepresents various logic within the processor, which when read by amachine causes the machine to fabricate logic to perform the techniquesdescribed herein. Such representations, known as “IP cores” may bestored on a tangible, machine readable medium and supplied to variouscustomers or manufacturing facilities to load into the fabricationmachines that actually make the logic or processor. Some embodiments maybe implemented, for example, using a machine-readable medium or articlewhich may store an instruction or a set of instructions that, ifexecuted by a machine, may cause the machine to perform a method and/oroperations in accordance with the embodiments. Such a machine mayinclude, for example, any suitable processing platform, computingplatform, computing device, processing device, computing system,processing system, computer, processor, or the like, and may beimplemented using any suitable combination of hardware and/or software.The machine-readable medium or article may include, for example, anysuitable type of memory unit, memory device, memory article, memorymedium, storage device, storage article, storage medium and/or storageunit, for example, memory, removable or non-removable media, erasable ornon-erasable media, writeable or re-writeable media, digital or analogmedia, hard disk, floppy disk, Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM),Compact Disk Recordable (CD-R), Compact Disk Rewriteable (CD-RW),optical disk, magnetic media, magneto-optical media, removable memorycards or disks, various types of Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), a tape, acassette, or the like. The instructions may include any suitable type ofcode, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executablecode, static code, dynamic code, encrypted code, and the like,implemented using any suitable high-level, low-level, object-oriented,visual, compiled and/or interpreted programming language.

Example 1 is a wireless communication apparatus, comprising logic, atleast a portion of which is in hardware, the logic to determine a groupidentifier (ID) for a downlink multi-user multiple-input multiple output(DL MU-MIMO) group comprising a station (STA) based on DL MU-MIMO groupmanagement information comprised in a received management frame,determine whether a physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocoldata unit (PPDU) is addressed to the DL MU-MIMO group comprising the STAbased whether a physical layer (PHY) header of the PPDU comprises thegroup ID for the DL MU-MIMO group comprising the STA, and in response toa determination that the PPDU is addressed to the DL MU-MIMO groupcomprising the STA, identify one or more spatial streams assigned to theSTA based on the PHY header.

Example 2 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 1, thelogic to locate an association identifier (AID) for the STA among anordered set of AIDs comprised in the DL MU-MIMO group managementinformation, the DL MU-MIMO group management information to indicate acorrespondence between the ordered set of AIDs and a DL MU-MIMO groupID, the logic to identify the DL MU-MIMO group ID as the group ID forthe DL MU-MIMO group comprising the STA.

Example 3 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 2, thelogic to locate the AID for the STA among one of a plurality of orderedsets of AIDs comprised in the DL MU-MIMO group management information,the DL MU-MIMO group management information to indicate a correspondingDL MU-MIMO group ID for each of the plurality of ordered sets of AIDs.

Example 4 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 2, thelogic to identify a PHY header subfield corresponding to the STA basedon a relative position of the AID for the STA among the ordered set ofAIDs and identify the one or more spatial streams assigned to the STAbased on spatial stream information comprised in the identified PHYheader subfield.

Example 5 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 4, theidentified PHY header subfield to comprise a value indicating a numberof spatial streams assigned to the STA.

Example 6 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 5, thelogic to identify the one or more spatial streams assigned to the STAbased on the number of spatial streams assigned to the STA and on adefined reference order for spatial stream assignment.

Example 7 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 4, theidentified PHY header subfield to comprise a spatial stream bitmap forthe STA.

Example 8 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 1, thelogic to receive one or more medium access control (MAC) protocol dataunits (MPDUs) via the one or more spatial streams.

Example 9 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 1,comprising a radio interface to receive the management frame over one ormore wireless channels of a 60 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN).

Example 10 is a system, comprising a wireless communication apparatusaccording to any of Examples 1 to 9, at least one radio frequency (RF)transceiver, and at least one RF antenna.

Example 11 is the system of Example 10, comprising a touchscreendisplay.

Example 12 is a wireless communication apparatus, comprising logic, atleast a portion of which is in hardware, the logic to define a downlinkmulti-user multiple-input multiple output (DL MU-MIMO) group comprisinga plurality of stations (STAs), send a management frame identifying agroup identifier (ID) for the DL MU-MIMO group and a respectiveassociation identifier (AID) for each of the plurality of STAs, andaddress a physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit(PPDU) to the plurality of STAs by including the group ID in a physicallayer (PHY) header of the PPDU, and a radio interface to transmit thePPDU via a plurality of spatial streams, the PHY header to identify arespective assignment of one or more of the plurality of spatial streamsto each of the plurality of STAs.

Example 13 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 12, thePHY header to comprise a plurality of spatial stream informationsubfields, each spatial stream information subfield to correspond to arespective one of the plurality of STAs.

Example 14 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 13, theplurality of spatial stream information subfields positioned accordingto an order in which the AIDs for their respective corresponding STAsappear in the management frame.

Example 15 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 13, eachspatial stream information subfield to indicate a number of spatialstreams assigned to its corresponding STA.

Example 16 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 13, eachspatial stream information subfield to comprise a spatial stream bitmapfor its corresponding STA.

Example 17 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 12, thePPDU to encapsulate a plurality of medium access control (MAC) protocoldata units (MPDUs), the plurality of MPDUs to include, for each of theplurality of STAs, at least one MPDU comprising data for that STA.

Example 18 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 12, theradio interface to transmit the PPDU over one or more wireless channelsof a 60 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN).

Example 19 is an access point (AP) comprising a wireless communicationapparatus according to any of Examples 12 to 18, the AP to comprise apersonal basic service set (PBSS) control point/access point (PCP/AP)for the 60 GHz WLAN.

Example 20 is a system, comprising a wireless communication apparatusaccording to any of Examples 12 to 18, at least one processor, and atleast one memory.

Example 21 is at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium, comprising a set of wireless communication instructions that, inresponse to being executed by circuitry of a station (STA), cause theSTA to determine a group identifier (ID) for a downlink multi-usermultiple-input multiple output (DL MU-MIMO) group comprising the STAbased on DL MU-MIMO group management information comprised in a receivedmanagement frame, determine whether a physical layer convergenceprocedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) is addressed to the DLMU-MIMO group comprising the STA based whether a physical layer (PHY)header of the PPDU comprises the group ID for the DL MU-MIMO groupcomprising the STA, and in response to a determination that the PPDU isaddressed to the DL MU-MIMO group comprising the STA, identify one ormore spatial streams assigned to the STA based on the PHY header.

Example 22 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 21, comprising wireless communication instructionsthat, in response to being executed by the circuitry of the STA, causethe STA to locate an association identifier (AID) for the STA among anordered set of AIDs comprised in the DL MU-MIMO group managementinformation, the DL MU-MIMO group management information to indicate acorrespondence between the ordered set of AIDs and a DL MU-MIMO groupID, and identify the DL MU-MIMO group ID as the group ID for the DLMU-MIMO group comprising the STA.

Example 23 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 22, comprising wireless communication instructionsthat, in response to being executed by the circuitry of the STA, causethe STA to locate the AID for the STA among one of a plurality ofordered sets of AIDs comprised in the DL MU-MIMO group managementinformation, the DL MU-MIMO group management information to indicate acorresponding DL MU-MIMO group ID for each of the plurality of orderedsets of AIDs.

Example 24 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 22, comprising wireless communication instructionsthat, in response to being executed by the circuitry of the STA, causethe STA to identify a PHY header subfield corresponding to the STA basedon a relative position of the AID for the STA among the ordered set ofAIDs, and identify the one or more spatial streams assigned to the STAbased on spatial stream information comprised in the identified PHYheader subfield.

Example 25 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 24, the identified PHY header subfield to comprise avalue indicating a number of spatial streams assigned to the STA.

Example 26 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 25, comprising wireless communication instructionsthat, in response to being executed by the circuitry of the STA, causethe STA to identify the one or more spatial streams assigned to the STAbased on the number of spatial streams assigned to the STA and on adefined reference order for spatial stream assignment.

Example 27 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 24, the identified PHY header subfield to comprise aspatial stream bitmap for the STA.

Example 28 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 21, comprising wireless communication instructionsthat, in response to being executed by the circuitry of the STA, causethe STA to receive one or more medium access control (MAC) protocol dataunits (MPDUs) via the one or more spatial streams.

Example 29 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 21, comprising wireless communication instructionsthat, in response to being executed by the circuitry of the STA, causethe STA to receive the management frame over one or more wirelesschannels of a 60 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN).

Example 30 is at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium, comprising a set of wireless communication instructions that, inresponse to being executed by circuitry of an access point (AP), causethe AP to define a downlink multi-user multiple-input multiple output(DL MU-MIMO) group comprising a plurality of stations (STAs), transmit amanagement frame identifying a group identifier (ID) for the DL MU-MIMOgroup and a respective association identifier (AID) for each of theplurality of STAs, address a physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP)protocol data unit (PPDU) to the plurality of STAs by including thegroup ID in a physical layer (PHY) header of the PPDU, and transmit thePPDU via a plurality of spatial streams, the PHY header to identify arespective assignment of one or more of the plurality of spatial streamsto each of the plurality of STAs.

Example 31 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 30, the PHY header to comprise a plurality of spatialstream information subfields, each spatial stream information subfieldto correspond to a respective one of the plurality of STAs.

Example 32 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 31, the plurality of spatial stream informationsubfields positioned according to an order in which the AIDs for theirrespective corresponding STAs appear in the management frame.

Example 33 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 31, each spatial stream information subfield toindicate a number of spatial streams assigned to its corresponding STA.

Example 34 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 31, each spatial stream information subfield tocomprise a spatial stream bitmap for its corresponding STA.

Example 35 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 30, the PPDU to encapsulate a plurality of mediumaccess control (MAC) protocol data units (MPDUs), the plurality of MPDUsto include, for each of the plurality of STAs, at least one MPDUcomprising data for that STA.

Example 36 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 30, comprising wireless communication instructionsthat, in response to being executed by the circuitry of the AP, causethe AP to transmit the PPDU over one or more wireless channels of a 60GHz wireless local area network (WLAN).

Example 37 is the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of Example 36, the AP to comprise a personal basic service set(PBSS) control point/access point (PCP/AP) for the 60 GHz WLAN.

Example 38 is a wireless communication method, comprising determining,by processing circuitry of a station (STA), a group identifier (ID) fora downlink multi-user multiple-input multiple output (DL MU-MIMO) groupcomprising the STA, based on DL MU-MIMO group management informationcomprised in a received management frame, determining whether a physicallayer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) isaddressed to the DL MU-MIMO group comprising the STA based whether aphysical layer (PHY) header of the PPDU comprises the group ID for theDL MU-MIMO group comprising the STA, and in response to a determinationthat the PPDU is addressed to the DL MU-MIMO group comprising the STA,identifying one or more spatial streams assigned to the STA based on thePHY header.

Example 39 is the wireless communication method of Example 38,comprising locating an association identifier (AID) for the STA among anordered set of AIDs comprised in the DL MU-MIMO group managementinformation, the DL MU-MIMO group management information to indicate acorrespondence between the ordered set of AIDs and a DL MU-MIMO groupID, and identifying the DL MU-MIMO group ID as the group ID for the DLMU-MIMO group comprising the STA.

Example 40 is the wireless communication method of Example 39,comprising locating the AID for the STA among one of a plurality ofordered sets of AIDs comprised in the DL MU-MIMO group managementinformation, the DL MU-MIMO group management information to indicate acorresponding DL MU-MIMO group ID for each of the plurality of orderedsets of AIDs.

Example 41 is the wireless communication method of Example 39,comprising identifying a PHY header subfield corresponding to the STAbased on a relative position of the AID for the STA among the orderedset of AIDs, and identifying the one or more spatial streams assigned tothe STA based on spatial stream information comprised in the identifiedPHY header subfield.

Example 42 is the wireless communication method of Example 41, theidentified PHY header subfield to comprise a value indicating a numberof spatial streams assigned to the STA.

Example 43 is the wireless communication method of Example 42,comprising identifying the one or more spatial streams assigned to theSTA based on the number of spatial streams assigned to the STA and on adefined reference order for spatial stream assignment.

Example 44 is the wireless communication method of Example 41, theidentified PHY header subfield to comprise a spatial stream bitmap forthe STA.

Example 45 is the wireless communication method of Example 38,comprising receiving one or more medium access control (MAC) protocoldata units (MPDUs) via the one or more spatial streams.

Example 46 is the wireless communication method of Example 38,comprising receiving the management frame over one or more wirelesschannels of a 60 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN).

Example 47 is at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium, comprising a set of instructions that, in response to beingexecuted on a computing device, cause the computing device to perform awireless communication method according to any of Examples 38 to 46.

Example 48 is an apparatus, comprising means for performing a wirelesscommunication method according to any of Examples 38 to 46.

Example 49 is a system, comprising the apparatus of Example 48, at leastone radio frequency (RF) transceiver, and at least one RF antenna.

Example 50 is the system of Example 49, comprising a touchscreendisplay.

Example 51 is a wireless communication method, comprising defining, byprocessing circuitry at an access point (AP), a downlink multi-usermultiple-input multiple output (DL MU-MIMO) group comprising a pluralityof stations (STAs), transmitting a management frame identifying a groupidentifier (ID) for the DL MU-MIMO group and a respective associationidentifier (AID) for each of the plurality of STAs, addressing aphysical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) tothe plurality of STAs by including the group ID in a physical layer(PHY) header of the PPDU, and transmitting the PPDU via a plurality ofspatial streams, the PHY header to identify a respective assignment ofone or more of the plurality of spatial streams to each of the pluralityof STAs.

Example 52 is the wireless communication method of Example 51, the PHYheader to comprise a plurality of spatial stream information subfields,each spatial stream information subfield to correspond to a respectiveone of the plurality of STAs.

Example 53 is the wireless communication method of Example 52, theplurality of spatial stream information subfields positioned accordingto an order in which the AIDs for their respective corresponding STAsappear in the management frame.

Example 54 is the wireless communication method of Example 52, eachspatial stream information subfield to indicate a number of spatialstreams assigned to its corresponding STA.

Example 55 is the wireless communication method of Example 52, eachspatial stream information subfield to comprise a spatial stream bitmapfor its corresponding STA.

Example 56 is the wireless communication method of Example 51, the PPDUto encapsulate a plurality of medium access control (MAC) protocol dataunits (MPDUs), the plurality of MPDUs to include, for each of theplurality of STAs, at least one MPDU comprising data for that STA.

Example 57 is the wireless communication method of Example 51,comprising transmitting the PPDU over one or more wireless channels of a60 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN).

Example 58 is the wireless communication method of Example 57, the AP tocomprise a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point/access point(PCP/AP) for the 60 GHz WLAN.

Example 59 is at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium, comprising a set of instructions that, in response to beingexecuted on a computing device, cause the computing device to perform awireless communication method according to any of Examples 51 to 58.

Example 60 is an apparatus, comprising means for performing a wirelesscommunication method according to any of Examples 51 to 58.

Example 61 is a system, comprising the apparatus of Example 60, and amultiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna array.

Example 62 is the system of Example 61, comprising at least oneprocessor, and at least one memory.

Example 63 is a wireless communication apparatus, comprising means fordetermining a group identifier (ID) for a downlink multi-usermultiple-input multiple output (DL MU-MIMO) group comprising a station(STA), based on DL MU-MIMO group management information comprised in areceived management frame, means for determining whether a physicallayer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) isaddressed to the DL MU-MIMO group comprising the STA based whether aphysical layer (PHY) header of the PPDU comprises the group ID for theDL MU-MIMO group comprising the STA, and means for identifying one ormore spatial streams assigned to the STA based on the PHY header inresponse to a determination that the PPDU is addressed to the DL MU-MIMOgroup comprising the STA.

Example 64 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 38,comprising means for locating an association identifier (AID) for theSTA among an ordered set of AIDs comprised in the DL MU-MIMO groupmanagement information, the DL MU-MIMO group management information toindicate a correspondence between the ordered set of AIDs and a DLMU-MIMO group ID, and means for identifying the DL MU-MIMO group ID asthe group ID for the DL MU-MIMO group comprising the STA.

Example 65 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 64,comprising means for locating the AID for the STA among one of aplurality of ordered sets of AIDs comprised in the DL MU-MIMO groupmanagement information, the DL MU-MIMO group management information toindicate a corresponding DL MU-MIMO group ID for each of the pluralityof ordered sets of AIDs.

Example 66 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 64,comprising means for identifying a PHY header subfield corresponding tothe STA based on a relative position of the AID for the STA among theordered set of AIDs, and means for identifying the one or more spatialstreams assigned to the STA based on spatial stream informationcomprised in the identified PHY header subfield.

Example 67 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 66, theidentified PHY header subfield to comprise a value indicating a numberof spatial streams assigned to the STA.

Example 68 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 67,comprising means for identifying the one or more spatial streamsassigned to the STA based on the number of spatial streams assigned tothe STA and on a defined reference order for spatial stream assignment.

Example 69 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 66, theidentified PHY header subfield to comprise a spatial stream bitmap forthe STA.

Example 70 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 63,comprising means for receiving one or more medium access control (MAC)protocol data units (MPDUs) via the one or more spatial streams.

Example 71 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 63,comprising means for receiving the management frame over one or morewireless channels of a 60 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN).

Example 72 is a system, comprising a wireless communication apparatusaccording to any of Examples 63 to 71, at least one radio frequency (RF)transceiver, and at least one RF antenna.

Example 73 is the system of Example 72, comprising a touchscreendisplay.

Example 74 is a wireless communication apparatus, comprising means fordefining, at an access point (AP), a downlink multi-user multiple-inputmultiple output (DL MU-MIMO) group comprising a plurality of stations(STAs), means for transmitting a management frame identifying a groupidentifier (ID) for the DL MU-MIMO group and a respective associationidentifier (AID) for each of the plurality of STAs, means for addressinga physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU)to the plurality of STAs by including the group ID in a physical layer(PHY) header of the PPDU, and means for transmitting the PPDU via aplurality of spatial streams, the PHY header to identify a respectiveassignment of one or more of the plurality of spatial streams to each ofthe plurality of STAs.

Example 75 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 74, thePHY header to comprise a plurality of spatial stream informationsubfields, each spatial stream information subfield to correspond to arespective one of the plurality of STAs.

Example 76 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 75, theplurality of spatial stream information subfields positioned accordingto an order in which the AIDs for their respective corresponding STAsappear in the management frame.

Example 77 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 75, eachspatial stream information subfield to indicate a number of spatialstreams assigned to its corresponding STA.

Example 78 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 75, eachspatial stream information subfield to comprise a spatial stream bitmapfor its corresponding STA.

Example 79 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 74, thePPDU to encapsulate a plurality of medium access control (MAC) protocoldata units (MPDUs), the plurality of MPDUs to include, for each of theplurality of STAs, at least one MPDU comprising data for that STA.

Example 80 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 74,comprising means for transmitting the PPDU over one or more wirelesschannels of a 60 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN).

Example 81 is the wireless communication apparatus of Example 80, the APto comprise a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point/accesspoint (PCP/AP) for the 60 GHz WLAN.

Example 82 is a system, comprising a wireless communication apparatusaccording to any of Examples 74 to 81, and a multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) antenna array.

Example 83 is the system of Example 82, comprising at least oneprocessor, and at least one memory.

Numerous specific details have been set forth herein to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. It will be understood bythose skilled in the art, however, that the embodiments may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-knownoperations, components, and circuits have not been described in detailso as not to obscure the embodiments. It can be appreciated that thespecific structural and functional details disclosed herein may berepresentative and do not necessarily limit the scope of theembodiments.

Some embodiments may be described using the expression “coupled” and“connected” along with their derivatives. These terms are not intendedas synonyms for each other. For example, some embodiments may bedescribed using the terms “connected” and/or “coupled” to indicate thattwo or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact witheach other. The term “coupled,” however, may also mean that two or moreelements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet stillco-operate or interact with each other.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, it may be appreciated that termssuch as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” or thelike, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computingsystem, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and/ortransforms data represented as physical quantities (e.g., electronic)within the computing system's registers and/or memories into other datasimilarly represented as physical quantities within the computingsystem's memories, registers or other such information storage,transmission or display devices. The embodiments are not limited in thiscontext.

It should be noted that the methods described herein do not have to beexecuted in the order described, or in any particular order. Moreover,various activities described with respect to the methods identifiedherein can be executed in serial or parallel fashion.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement calculated toachieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodimentsshown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations orvariations of various embodiments. It is to be understood that the abovedescription has been made in an illustrative fashion, and not arestrictive one. Combinations of the above embodiments, and otherembodiments not specifically described herein will be apparent to thoseof skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Thus, thescope of various embodiments includes any other applications in whichthe above compositions, structures, and methods are used.

It is emphasized that the Abstract of the Disclosure is provided tocomply with 37 C.F.R. § 1.72(b), requiring an abstract that will allowthe reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure.It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used tointerpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, inthe foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various featuresare grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose ofstreamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to beinterpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodimentsrequire more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather,as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in lessthan all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the followingclaims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with eachclaim standing on its own as a separate preferred embodiment. In theappended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as theplain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and“wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,” “second,” and“third,” etc. are used merely as labels, and are not intended to imposenumerical requirements on their objects.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above.Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus, comprising: medium access control(MAC) processing circuitry for a station (STA), the MAC processingcircuitry to: based on contents of an information element (IE) comprisedin a received management frame: identify a downlink multi-user multipleinput, multiple output (DL-MU-MIMO) group to which the STA belongs; anddetermine a DL-MU-MIMO group identifier (ID) associated with theDL-MU-MIMO group; and physical layer (PHY) processing circuitry for theSTA, the PHY processing circuitry to: deconstruct a PHY protocol dataunit (PPDU) received via a DL-MU-MIMO transmission of an access point,the PPDU encapsulating a plurality of MAC protocol data units (MPDUs)including, for each of a plurality of STAs in the DL-MU-MIMO group, atleast one MPDU comprising data for that STA.
 2. The apparatus of claim1, the IE to comprise a field containing a value to indicate a number ofDL-MU-MIMO groups defined by the IE.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, the IEto comprise one or more group information fields, each of the one ormore group information fields to define a respective DL-MU-MIMO group,the one or more group information fields to include a group informationfield defining the DL-MU-MIMO group to which the STA belongs.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 3, the MAC processing circuitry to identify theDL-MU-MIMO group to which the STA belongs based on a presence of anassociation identifier (AID) of the STA within the group informationfield defining the DL-MU-MIMO group to which the STA belongs.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 4, the AID of the STA comprised among a plurality ofAIDs contained in the group information field defining the DL-MU-MIMOgroup to which the STA belongs, each of the plurality of AIDs associatedwith a respective one of a plurality of STAs belonging to thatDL-MU-MIMO group.
 6. The apparatus of claim 3, each of the one or moregroup information fields to comprise a respective subfield containing avalue to indicate a DL-MU-MIMO group ID associated with the DL-MU-MIMOgroup defined by that group information field.
 7. The apparatus of claim1, the PHY processing circuitry to: identify one or more spatial streamsassigned to the STA based on a header of the PPDU; and receive the PPDUvia the one or more spatial streams assigned to the STA.
 8. Theapparatus of claim 1, the received management frame to comprise a beaconframe.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising a radio frequency (RF)transceiver to receive modulated RF signals comprising the PPDU.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 9, comprising one or more processors to process datacomprised in at least one of the plurality of MPDUs.
 11. The apparatusof claim 10, comprising one or more RF antennas coupled to the RFtransceiver.
 12. Non-transitory computer-readable storage media storinginstructions that, in response to being executed by processing circuitryof a station (STA), cause the STA to: based on contents of aninformation element (IE) comprised in a received management frame:identify a downlink multi-user multiple input, multiple output(DL-MU-MIMO) group to which the STA belongs; and determine a DL-MU-MIMOgroup identifier (ID) associated with the DL-MU-MIMO group; anddeconstruct a PHY protocol data unit (PPDU) received via a DL-MU-MIMOtransmission of an access point, the PPDU encapsulating a plurality ofMAC protocol data units (MPDUs) including, for each of a plurality ofSTAs in the DL-MU-MIMO group, at least one MPDU comprising data for thatSTA.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 12,the IE to comprise a field containing a value to indicate a number ofDL-MU-MIMO groups defined by the IE.
 14. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 12, the IE to comprise one ormore group information fields, each of the one or more group informationfields to define a respective DL-MU-MIMO group, the one or more groupinformation fields to include a group information field defining theDL-MU-MIMO group to which the STA belongs.
 15. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 14, storing instructions that,in response to being executed by processing circuitry of the STA, causethe STA to identify the DL-MU-MIMO group to which the STA belongs basedon a presence of an association identifier (AID) of the STA within thegroup information field defining the DL-MU-MIMO group to which the STAbelongs.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim15, the AID of the STA comprised among a plurality of AIDs contained inthe group information field defining the DL-MU-MIMO group to which theSTA belongs, each of the plurality of AIDs associated with a respectiveone of a plurality of STAs belonging to that DL-MU-MIMO group.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 14, each of theone or more group information fields to comprise a respective subfieldcontaining a value to indicate a DL-MU-MIMO group ID associated with theDL-MU-MIMO group defined by that group information field.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 12, storinginstructions that, in response to being executed by processing circuitryof the STA, cause the STA to: identify one or more spatial streamsassigned to the STA based on a header of the PPDU; and receive the PPDUvia the one or more spatial streams assigned to the STA.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 12, the receivedmanagement frame to comprise a beacon frame.
 20. A wirelesscommunication device, comprising: baseband circuitry for a station(STA), the baseband circuitry to: based on contents of an informationelement (IE) comprised in a received management frame: identify adownlink multi-user multiple input, multiple output (DL-MU-MIMO) groupto which the STA belongs; and determine a DL-MU-MIMO group identifier(ID) associated with the DL-MU-MIMO group; and deconstruct a PHYprotocol data unit (PPDU) received via a DL-MU-MIMO transmission of anaccess point, the PPDU encapsulating a plurality of MAC protocol dataunits (MPDUs) including, for each of a plurality of STAs in theDL-MU-MIMO group, at least one MPDU comprising data for that STA; andone or more processors to process data comprised in at least one of theplurality of MPDUs.
 21. The wireless communication device of claim 20,the IE to comprise a field containing a value to indicate a number ofDL-MU-MIMO groups defined by the IE.
 22. The wireless communicationdevice of claim 20, the IE to comprise one or more group informationfields, each of the one or more group information fields to define arespective DL-MU-MIMO group, the one or more group information fields toinclude a group information field defining the DL-MU-MIMO group to whichthe STA belongs.
 23. The wireless communication device of claim 22, thebaseband circuitry to identify the DL-MU-MIMO group to which the STAbelongs based on a presence of an association identifier (AID) of theSTA within the group information field defining the DL-MU-MIMO group towhich the STA belongs.
 24. The wireless communication device of claim23, the AID of the STA comprised among a plurality of AIDs contained inthe group information field defining the DL-MU-MIMO group to which theSTA belongs, each of the plurality of AIDs associated with a respectiveone of a plurality of STAs belonging to that DL-MU-MIMO group.
 25. Thewireless communication device of claim 22, each of the one or more groupinformation fields to comprise a respective subfield containing a valueto indicate a DL-MU-MIMO group ID associated with the DL-MU-MIMO groupdefined by that group information field.
 26. The wireless communicationdevice of claim 20, the baseband circuitry to: identify one or morespatial streams assigned to the STA based on a header of the PPDU; andreceive the PPDU via the one or more spatial streams assigned to theSTA.
 27. The wireless communication device of claim 20, the receivedmanagement frame to comprise a beacon frame.